Can't sleep
by Deream
Summary: Wherein Hayley can't sleep because of the hybrid spawn, and Klaus calms his daughter. Purely plotless fluff.


At the time of writing and publishing this the latest episode of **The Originals** released was **S01E07 "Bloodletting"**. It is entirely possible that canon events will occur in the series to make this little piece of fiction I've written completely irrelevant and moot, so keep that in mind.

Just a little bit of fluff between Klaus and Hayley and their unborn hybrid demon spawn.

* * *

The sheet clung to her skin. Even though she had been at it for several hours now, she could not find a comfortable sleeping position. How is it that the bed is at it's most comfortable when you have to leave it and vice versa? Every time she thought she had settled, the baby stirred within her, kicking furiously at her ribs.

Hayley Marshall tossed again, trying to find a cool part of the sheet where she hadn't laid already, then cursed under her breath as the slightly undone duvet cover entangled itself around her feet. Her hot palms stuck to the cover as she sat up and tried to arrange it neatly again.

_ "I'll have someone see to the air conditioning."_

Yeah, right.

Having no more patience for any of this, she slipped her feet from the messy bed and onto the cool floor. It was late night, almost morning, and she didn't expect anybody to be awake. Rebekah had made Haley take a bath before bedtime. "It'll soothe her too," she had said with a loving smile. When Hayley had stepped out of the steamy bathroom Rebekah was nowhere to be seen, and had presumably gone to bed. Elijah had left earlier in the day to tend to errands and said that he would be back early in the morning. By the way Rebekah had chided him, Hayley knew better than to ask the specifics. And Klaus? She hadn't seen Klaus since yesterday evening, but it was certainly not uncommon for him to be away.

So yes, even though the large house was empty except for the female Original, Hayley slipped a silky robe over her cotton nightdress. The fabric felt chill over her arms; an appreciated feeling.

Her belly was growing slowly every day, and the slight shift in body weight was starting to throw off her otherwise impeccable balance. She would stumble into things sometimes, to everyone's great amusement. "I thought werewolves were supposed to have at least some poise and coordination? Is it because it's a half moon, or is it just my brother's influences?" Rebekah never failed to miss the moments when Hayley bumped her hip into something. More often than not she also managed to weave an insulting remark towards her hybrid brother into the inevitable comments that followed, which of course elicited the sharpest thing in Klaus' general vicinity to be thrown towards his sister's neck. Rebekah caught them every time and nonchalantly tossed them over her shoulder. If Elijah happened to be there he would roll his eyes at his - now grinning - younger siblings, and shoot Hayley an apologetic glance.

All part of the norm and good times in the Mikaelson household.

Hayley walked down the stairs to the kitchen, stalking for something to drink. In all honestly, she wanted a real drink. A glass - no, a _bottle_, of bourbon. Her head ached, her joints suffered. But no, she was bound to the non-alcoholic. She happily obliged, of course. Never would she risk anything else. That didn't mean she couldn't bitch about it, though.

So she filled a glass with ice and topped it off with water. The cubes clinked against the edges as she walked to the living room, condensation forming and dripping onto the two hundred-year-old carpet. She sat down on the couch and placed the glass on the table, leaning her head against the back of the couch and sighing exasperatedly. Her daughter shifted within her, seemingly annoyed too. Hayley's hands were on her abdomen, soothing the life inside her. The life wasn't amused nor soothed.

Haley grabbed her water then, but as she lifted it to her mouth she miscalculated and ended up spilling a few droplets on the floor. She found it ridiculous. She was a werewolf. She was strong, eloquent, graceful, calculated, coordinated. And now she couldn't drink water by herself? "Fuck," she whispered quietly before putting the water back on the table like it had offended her.

"Experiencing difficulties, love?"

Klaus had appeared out of nowhere, leaning against the frame of the archway that led into the living room. He looked amused, his arms crossed over his chest as he looked at Hayley.

Hayley hesitated, but smiled. "I - No. Not actually, no."

He quietly strode over to the couch, looking down at her almost authoritatively. Hayley didn't care much for it. The amused look did remain on his face, however. "You should be in bed."

"As should you," she retorted. It wasn't very clever, but Klaus snickered and slouched down next to her on the couch.

"You need to rest."

She scoffed lightly, her hands returning to the slight rise of her belly. "When _she_ is awake,_ we_ are awake."

"I see." He glanced quickly at her hands, then back at the empty air in the living room as if he were studying the dust that was illuminated by the moonlight.

A thousand-year-old, ruthless, manipulative, sadistic, narcissistic, werewolf-vampire hybrid who has seen the worst of humanity and caused plenty of gore and violence, explored every emotion and lack thereof, probably been to every cranny of the earth and seen and heard everything there is to see and hear, that very man had so far only felt the movements inside Hayley once. And only because Rebekah had insisted it. Hayley knew that she could never pretend to fathom the mind of the father of her child, or to try and perceive the things he had been through, but she sometimes found his stubborn façade tiring.

She cleared her throat, pausing before she spoke. "Yeah, she... she prefers the night, it seems."

Klaus didn't say anything, he just glanced at her again, a pondering expression on his face.

Hayley felt the kicks every now and then. Soft thumps inside her, and the occasional rough kick against the ribs. She swore that she could feel those in her throat sometimes. There was nothing wrong with the fighter spirit in this one, that was for sure. And perhaps it wasn't too surprising, considering it's lineage.

She felt uneasy with Klaus at her side, looking at her so intently. He showed no signs of moving though, deep in thought about something.

The water stood on the table, untouched, a ring of wetness forming around it and growing on the table.

They sat like that for a while, Klaus' gaze shifting around the room while Hayley's focused intently on her undrunk drink. After a particularly uncomfortable movement inside her, she sighed, but couldn't help but smile too. She glanced at Klaus, who seemed to be in another world.

"Do you... want to feel them? Her kicks?"

Klaus considered this for a long enough time to make Hayley feel awkward and wish she had never uttered a word, but then he said that he would. She moved closer to him on the couch, her hands sliding down to rest on her hips.

She barely felt his fingers as he gently eased them onto her abdomen with inhuman carefulness. He managed to stroke the cotton of her nightgown before he touched her. As soon as he did, however, he was rewarded with an acknowledgement from within. And another. And another. Soft thumps against his palm, and only the place where his palm so softly perched.

While she knew that it was of course preposterous, Hayley for a second thought that the baby knew who he was. That she could feel his presence and recognise him. Klaus seemed to think something akin to this, because he shifted the placement of his hand ever so slightly as if to test the theory. And very well, she thumped against his palm again.

Then nothing more. She quieted inside her mother, and Hayley leaned slightly into the back of the couch, the ache in her body pooling in her chest before fading away. Klaus' hand remained, but now he was looking at Hayley's face. Her closed eyes, her pleased smile. He was reminded of how effortlessly beautiful she was.

It took less than half a minute for her to fall asleep. Her hand instinctively crept up her small curve and touched Klaus' fingers; he gently drew them from her. As her body settled into a much needed sleep, she drooped over to his side, and he let her head rest on his shoulder and her side slump against his. He sat like this for a long time, listening to his daughter's heartbeat before he gathered Hayley in his arms and carried her to her bedroom. She shifted in his embrace, but didn't wake up.

Klaus left her nestled in the mess of covers, duvets, pillows and blankets and then retreated to his own bedroom to sleep a few hours before sunrise.

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**Added 17 November 2013:**

Your reviews are leaving me flattered! I will continue, either by adding chapters here (probably not) or adding new little stories (probably more likely this). Thank you for the encouragement, comments and constructive criticism. It is _greatly_ appreciated.

And to answer someone's question: I don't know if I ship Klayley per se, I just really like the dynamics of their relationship right now. Klaroline is also very interesting. We'll see where the writers take us, hm?


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